Dense forest outskirts of Washington — 2:02 AM
I landed hard on the ground, among the trees. The impact shook the soil beneath me. The air smelled of wet earth and pine. Dim lights flickered through the bushes, marking the path to an old concrete shelter half-buried on the hillside.
She was waiting for me inside.
The place was small. A table, two monitors turned off, some scattered folders. And her — Dr. Meryl — standing there, wearing the same old lab coat as always, her eyes deep-set, like she hadn't slept for days.
She looked at me like she already knew exactly what I was going to say. Yet, she remained silent.
"You kept pieces of me."
My voice came out quieter than I expected. But firm.
"Without telling me. Without asking. Without permission."
She took a slow step forward. Her gaze wasn't guilty — it was painful.
"I did it because I saw something in you that no one else understood. Not even you."
"That doesn't give you the right to treat me like an experiment."
"I never treated you like that."
"You took my DNA. My genetic code. You mapped everything that makes me who I am. How is that not treating someone like an experiment?"
"I did it because I knew one day the world would want to know what you are."
"I know what I am !"
My voice echoed off the shelter walls. The table shook. The lights flickered. She didn't flinch.
"You think you know. But you don't know the limits of your power, Revan. No one does. Not your parents. Not your teachers. And when that power started spiraling out of control... when you could barely breathe without cracking the ground... I was the only one who tried to understand why."
I fell silent. Her words cut deeper than I wanted to admit.
"I didn't want to betray you. I wanted to protect you. If something happened to you... if you hurt yourself or someone else... the world would call you a monster. But I saw the boy crying in the hospital, trembling in fear of what was inside him."
My fist unclenched.
"And now they have what you kept. What you tried to hide."
She nodded bitterly.
"The government doesn't want to understand you, Revan. They want to duplicate you. Or destroy you."
"And you gave me to them."
"No. I tricked them. What they stole... isn't everything."
I looked at her.
"What did you hide ?"
She went to one of the folders on the table. Pulled out a thick sheet covered in strange symbols — genetic codes, handwritten notes, and a red-marked symbol in the corner: "RE-0."
"This is what you really are. The complete version. The real data, protected by layers of falsehood. What they took is bait."
"Why tell me now ?"
"Because they'll realize. And when they do... they'll come after you with everything."
"So what do I do ?"
She stared at me.
"You prepare. Because the next time they come, they won't want your DNA."
"They'll want you, whole."
Underground facility — Unknown location — Ultra Secret Classification
The lab was cold, impersonal, buried under tons of concrete and steel. The walls lined with lead panels, sensors covering every cubic inch. A man in a suit watched from behind reinforced glass, arms crossed, tense expression.
In the center of the room below, a containment cylinder. Inside, a glowing, pulsating... unstable substance floated.
"What have you discovered?"
The scientist to his left hesitated for a moment before answering. Her eyes were tired, but her voice steady.
"The sample we received from Dr. Meryl... isn't complete. Essential parts of the sequence are missing. Gene expression is truncated. Some fragments duplicated, others completely erased. It's a trap."
"She deceived us."
"Yes. But not entirely. There's still viable material. Little... but enough for tests."
"Tests ? This isn't a research lab. I want soldiers."
She swallowed hard.
"With this amount, we can't replicate Revan. But maybe... we can make something that works for a limited time. Unstable copies. Hybrid clones. Combat prototypes."
He slowly turned, staring at the glass.
"What's the risk ?"
"Cellular deformation. Organic collapse. Mental instability. Possible extreme hostility. No guarantee of obedience."
He was silent for long seconds. Then he turned and walked toward the door.
"Prepare the first batch. Start with prisoners from the black block."
"If one of them survives the fusion... we'll have our Titan Project."
The scientist hesitated.
"Sir… what if he finds out ?"
"He won't find out."
"And even if he does..."
"Revan is a weapon that never wanted to be used."
"We're creating something that won't have that choice."
The lab lights flickered as the cloning chambers began to heat up. The sound of flesh being manipulated filled the air. On the control screen, a code appeared in red letters:
TITAN PROJECT — PHASE 1
OBJECTIVE: ANTI-REAVAN CONTAINMENT WEAPON